On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department announced the name of the child know as the Boy in the Box: Joseph Augustus Zarelli. He was four years old. On February 25, 1957 Joseph Augustus Zarelli was found dead inside a cardboard box that was left on an empty lot near then Susquehanna Road […]
Forensics
Zeigler closer to modern DNA testing
On Oct 27, Florida Circuit Judge Patricia L. Strowbridge brought William Thomas Zeigler a step closer to proving that he is innocent. The 77-year-old has said so from the start. The preserved evidence pieces of guns, victim fingernail clippings and clothes will prove that he did not kill four people in 1975. Modern DNA testing […]
William Peter Cook: A Forensic Science Follow Up by Sue Carney
William Peter Cook (Dec 17, 1924 – Oct 20, 1950): A Forensic Science Follow Up by Sue Carney December 06, 2021 I love a forensic science chat on Twitter, and it’s been a while since I’ve had one, so when Alice wanted to chat last weekend about an upcoming post on DCC, I was totally up […]
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 4
In part 4 of my series on Forensic Genealogy, we look at what is happening in Iowa. The Iowa Supreme Court, in a 4-3 split, decided on June 18, 2021, to ban police from searching the people’s uncollected trash without a warrant. In doing so they outlawed a decades old investigative technique. The Justices said […]
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 3
Two US states have enacted bills to protect people’s privacy when the authorities use commercial direct-to-consumer DNA databases and forensic genealogy to solve old crimes. What happens when they use DNA databases? Police use DNA from an old unsolved crime scene and compare it to genetic online profiles in commercial DNA databases. They will try […]
Neosho Grace Doe is Shawna Beth Garber
Now officially identified as Shawna Beth Garber (born March 1, 1968) she was known as the ‘McDonald County Grace Doe’ and on my website as Neosho Grace Doe. Why did I give her that name? After her remains were recovered, Detective Lorie Howard sent them to Freeman Hospital in Neosho and the scans were sent […]